


Devil's Advocate

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bisexual Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Friendship, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, F/M, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Jewish Wanda Maximoff, Major Original Character(s), Past Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Rivalry, Slow Romance, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, War Veteran Bucky Barnes, War Veteran Sam Wilson, War Veteran Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jada Longmire was a talented woman. So when she got the call from Rogers and Barnes Law firm, the second biggest firm in NYC, she took it. She went from getting second place in everything to being on top of the world. But then she starts getting harder cases, harder opponents. And of course, there's James Barnes-- her extremely attractive boss.Jada's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Does she admit her feelings? Or silently let them devour her whole?
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Original Female Character(s), Wanda Maximoff & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

> FRIDAY, MAY 11TH, 2018

Running was never Jade’s favorite form of activity, but some higher power thought today was the day to try it out. Somehow, she’d slept through her 15 or so alarms. And missed her bus. She did, however, catch a subway. Which got stuck. 3 blocks before her stop. But, after about 2 and a half hours of travel, she made it. Messed up hair and all. She hoped they would ignore the fact that instead of being there at 8:30 as scheduled, she was there at 10:30.

Rogers and Barnes Law Firm was on the 12th floor of the MetLife building. The elevator ride up felt more like the descent into Hell. When the elevator door opened, she was greeted with a hallway. The sign had an arrow pointing left for the law firm. There was a door, glass. She opened it and walked up to the marble reception desk. A small blonde woman looked up at Jade. There were a few people sitting in the lobby, chatting quietly or reading magazines. It didn't feel like a law office, more like a doctor's office. Jade could see a family with children in the corner, the children on tablets.

“Name?” The blonde at the desk asked. She seemed mad at everyone and everything.

“Jada Longmire. I’m here for an interview?” The blonde nodded and began typing on the computer in front of her. 

“What you’re going to do is go down that hall and it’s the very last door. Knock before entering. Mr. Barnes doesn’t take kindly to random people barging in his office.” Jade took a mental note of that. What was this Barnes guy like? From what she had heard at Columbia, he was a force to be reckoned with. 

“Thanks.” Jade smiled at the woman and began to walk down the hallway. The walls were filled with the same tacky modern art as the law firm she interned at the previous summer. She finally reached James’s office. There was a small plaque by the dark oak door. The font was simple. It read, _“James Barnes, Managing Partner”_. Jade knocked twice on the door. She could hear two men talking in the room. 

“Come in,” one of the men said. Jade opened the door. The first thing she noticed was the view. The room had several windows with an incredible view of the city. There was one man sitting at the desk-- he was brunette, the other was a blond standing at the side of the desk. They both looked at her-- plain, simple Jade. She swallowed. It felt like a century had passed when in reality it was just a few seconds.

“Ms. Longmire! Welcome. I hope you found your way here alright. I noticed you were a bit late. Considering you were coming from Upper Manhattan during rush hour, I didn’t sweat it.” The brunette stood, walked towards Jade, and shook her hand with his right. He had a firm grasp. But what Jade noticed the most was the man’s left hand. It was metal. This man must have been Barnes then, Jade figured. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. And yes, minus a few hiccups I got here just fine.” The brunette gestured for Jade to sit down in the left chair. The blond remained standing.

“Oh, I almost forgot. My name is James Barnes. This fine gentleman to your right is Steven Rogers, he runs the place with me.” Jade turned to shake the blond’s hand. His grip was softer than James’s, but it established more dominance. Probably because Steven was so much larger than Barnes. She prayed they couldn’t tell how nervous she was.

“Look, I’d love to stay and get to know you Ms. Longmire, but I have a meeting with the mayor in an hour.” Steven smiled at Jade. He seemed way less serious than Barnes. Once the door to James’s office was closed, the man sighed.

“Everything alright?” Jade inquired, crossing her legs in the chair. James didn’t respond. He clicked a pen and scribbled something down on a legal pad, “So, Jada, where did you go to school?” The brunette made eye contact with her. He had glasses on now. When did he put glasses on?

“Jade. I prefer Jade,” Barnes scribbled something down on the pad, “Noted. So, school, where did you go?”

“Columbia.” James chuckled softly and clapped his hands together, “An Ivy! A friend of mine went to Columbia. He dropped out after a month, something about it being too hard for him.” He wrote something down on the legal pad again. “Are you from New York originally, Jade?”

“No, I’m from D.C.” No reaction from Barnes this time. “DC's a nice place, I’ve only been there a couple of times for work, but I’ve enjoyed it every time.”

“My dad worked for Health and Human Services. He always said if he didn’t have that job we’d be somewhere else.” That was partially a lie. Her dad _did_ work for HHS, but he never said anything about wanting to move. That was always her mother.

“And your mother? What did she do? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.” James pushed the glasses up his nose. “She was the textbook definition of a stay-at-home, PTA mom,” Jade replied.

“Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. So, Jade. What do you want most of all in life?” Oh great, here came the interview questions, Jade thought to herself.

“Is world peace too broad?” That got a laugh out of James. It always does. “No, not at all,” He had a warm smile. “That _is_ a great answer, but get specific. This is just out of personal curiosity-- it doesn’t affect your hiring status.”

Jade looked at the man in front of her, possibly her soon to be boss. His glasses were green. Dark green. His eyes were, well. Jade couldn’t quite figure out what color his eyes were. His hair was a deep brown. She looked at his hands. There was a rose tattoo on the top of his left hand. His right hand was black. Bionic. James was part old money, part new money. 

“True love. Success. That’s what I want.” Jade readjusted in her chair. “Elaborate.” James chewed on the pen.

“I want to feel like I’ve, I dunno, used my time on Earth wisely? I want success, I want love, I want money. I’d rather feel too much than nothing at all.”

“That’s very philosophical, Ms. Longmire.” James stood up and extended his left hand. Jade stood up and shook it. "You start Monday. Try to get here around 8:30. If you’re late, don’t sweat it, alright?”

“Thank you, sir.” They made eye contact. In a desperate attempt to fix the air, James smiled. He wasn’t as scary as those stupid Columbia kids made him out to be. But yet again, Jade hadn’t seen him in the courtroom.

When she got back to her apartment at around 4:30, Jade changed clothes immediately. She sat down on the couch and turned the tv on. A crime documentary was on, but she couldn't focus on it. She could only focus on James. Did he have a girlfriend? What did his apartment look like? She also thought about the prosthetic arm. She had heard stories in law school-- he lost it in a land mine accident. But wouldn’t he have multiple prosthetics if that was the case? She ended up falling asleep on the couch, thinking of him.

When she woke up, there were infomercials playing on the tv and a puddle of drool on the throw pillow. She sighed and picked up her phone. 9:39 PM. Jade figured she might as well just go to bed and deal with her repressed fascination with her boss in the morning. And that's exactly what she did. She promised herself she wouldn't fall in love with James Barnes. But that didn't mean she couldn't dream about him, right? 


	2. Chapter 2

> SATURDAY, MAY 12TH, 2018

Bucky was a simple man. He liked the things he liked and hated the things he hated. There wasn’t much grey space in his life, and he tried to keep it that way. One of the things he hated was mornings. He figured it must have started in college, what with the BAR exam and all that. Bucky grabbed his glasses off the nightstand by his bed, then his phone. The time read 7:45 A.M. He had some time to lay in bed before he had to get up.

He would never admit it to his coworkers, especially Steve, but Bucky liked social media. Sure it was toxic most of the time, but it was Bucky’s outlet. He liked Twitter the most. It was funny and educational at the same time. He was halfway through his feed when he got a text. Sam. Wasn’t he supposed to be back Monday? Nevermind that, Bucky read the text, a simple “Yo”. That was Sam, painfully casual. 

Bucky texted back, “Hey, you back in town?” Sam was typing.

“Yep.”

“We still doing brunch tomorrow?”

“Jesus, you got a concussion, Barnes?” Bucky chuckled at Sam’s text. Most people would think it was stupid, but he had a tradition with Sam and Steve-- brunch. Every Sunday, unless someone was sick or out of town. Sure, it was an activity usually done by middle aged white women with rich husbands, but it was good to be able to talk to Sam and Steve once a week. 

Bucky looked at the time again. 8:30. He sighed and rolled out of bed. Trudging to the bathroom, he looked at the folded flag on the wall of his bedroom. Why he hasn’t taken the damn thing down and put it in storage was beyond him. Bucky stared at himself in the mirror. He looked like crap. Yawning, he grabbed his toothbrush. Usually, he’d put contacts in, but because he had the day off, he left his glasses on. Once he had finished brushing his teeth, Bucky figured he should eat something. 

When he went back into his room, he looked out the window. The entire left wall of Bucky’s bedroom was filled with windows. He could see most of the city out of it. He liked to sit and think about stuff while staring at the city. God, he was pretentious. But he liked the city. Was it pretentious to like the city? He grabbed his phone off the bed and walked to the kitchen.

Once he had gotten to the kitchen, Bucky realized he hadn’t been grocery shopping. Which meant he didn’t have food. Shit. That meant he would have to go to Whole Foods. Bucky hated grocery shopping. Mainly because he ended up buying things he  _ didn’t  _ need and forgetting the things he did. Basically- he wasn’t a very good adult. Nevertheless, he set out on his journey, in sweatpants and a faded AC/DC t-shirt, listening to the New York Times podcast from the previous day on the walk to the store. He had settled on French Toast for breakfast. That was always one of his staples.

It was around 10 by the time he had gotten to the store. It was busy- but when was a Whole Foods in NYC not busy? Bucky needed bread, vanilla, eggs, butter and a whole bunch of other ingredients. He went down the spices aisle-- he needed cinnamon. Not watching where he was going, he bumped into someone. A blonde woman, long hair, small, but muscular. She turned around.

“Oh my God, I’m so- Jade?” Bucky was looking at Jade. She looked, well, stunning compared to him. Her hair was up in a bun, she was wearing jeans and a cream sweater. And then there was Bucky- sweatpants and a faded t-shirt, bed head and glasses. He couldn’t compete.

“James? Hey! What are you doing here?” Jade inquired. If Bucky remembered correctly, she lived in Upper Manhattan. Why was she in the Upper East Side?

“Getting stuff for breakfast, I apparently haven’t mastered meal planning yet.” He chuckled, trying to seem less awkward. Jade looked him up and down.

“What are you doing here?” Bucky asked, hoping that wasn’t a weird question.

“Oh! I was visiting my friend who lives in Murray Hill, right? And he wanted me to go to Whole Foods and get some stuff. Y’know, health foods.” Jade coughed.

“Right, yeah that makes sense.” Bucky responded.

“Do you live near here?” Jade had freckles. Her eyes were almond shaped. Bucky needed to stop staring and answer her question.

“Oh, yeah. I live a couple blocks away.”

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah.” Bucky swallowed. Jade smelled like daisies.

“Well, I won’t keep you here too long. See you Monday!”

“Yeah, see you.” Jade walked off. Bucky was left standing awestruck in the spice aisle of Whole Foods. He didn’t realise how… jaw dropping Jade was yesterday. Maybe it was the nerves? Because believe it or not, Bucky was nervous for the interview too. He had interviewed a lot of people for the spot and he was losing hope. But maybe Jade was his saving grace? His stomach grumbled- a snap back to the current moment. He grabbed the rest of the things he needed, plus a can of Yerba Mate, and checked out. He didn’t listen to anything on the walk back.

When he was in the safety of his apartment, and his groceries were put away, Bucky laughed to himself. In love! With his co-worker he barely knows! God, maybe he was going insane. He opened the wine fridge, hoping Sam’s leftover bottle of Smirnoff was still in there. It was. Bucky poured himself a vodka soda and began cooking his breakfast. He turned the TV on, putting it on CNN for some boring background noise. 

By the time he was done eating, it was around 12:30. The one vodka soda had turned into four. So there Bucky was, lying on his couch, watching infomercials and eating a bag of cheetos he found in his pantry. They were stale and Bucky was plastered. He wondered what Jade was doing, who that friend of hers from Murray Hill was. He ended up falling asleep to an old white guy talking about male pattern balding.

When he woke up, it was around 7 PM. He was hungover, but he still had work to do. (Steve’s dozen or so texts about case notes reminded him of that fact.) Bucky finished what he had to, then decided it was probably smart for him to go to bed. He stood and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror for a while. Was he Jade’s type? He was. Bucky was everyone’s type. There he went again, being pretentious.

He slept good that night. He wondered what Sam and Steve would think about the day’s events at brunch. (They would mock him. That’s what they would do, Bucky thought. And that was fine with him.)


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Anthony Stark, rival to Bucky and Steve. (He’s kind of a douche).

SUNDAY, MAY 13TH, 2018

If there was a man in the entirety of New York City that could be classified as the polar opposite of James Barnes, that man would be Anthony Stark. While both of them were type A men who cared about their careers more than their actual lives, Tony (as he preferred to be called), enjoyed people. He threw extravagant parties and drank expensive liquor. 

He also had a wife, unlike Barnes. Her name was Virginia, but her close friends and family called her Pepper. She was the CEO of a tech company that was almost as respected as Tony’s firm. They had been married for almost 10 or so years. The pair wanted children, but because they were such workaholics, that was never a possibility.

Anthony ran his firm with James Rhodes, his college best friend. Their firm was in Hell’s Kitchen, and it was an unspoken rule that the two largest law firms in NYC— Barnes & Rogers and Stark and Rhodes take different halves of the city. No one knew who created that rule, but everyone followed it.

He also owned a bar, which was a secret to most— especially Pepper. It was his escape from the stress of the city and work. It was 3 blocks down from the firm and was located in an old speakeasy. Tony only appeared in the bar late into the night, for fear of being seen by a local and posted on social media.

There was one thing that he made loud and clear to Pepper and James, though. He wanted new talent in the firm.

The discussion first came up on a Sunday in May. Tony and Pepper were laying in bed with the window cracked and their clothes strewn across the floor.

“So, I heard a rumor you might wanna hear,” Pepper said, looking at her husband. Tony had a strong face shape, but soft eyes. 

“Really? What is it?” Tony had a prominent Brooklyn accent. He loathed it, but he also  _ loved _ the sound of his own voice.

“Natasha told me that Barnes and Rogers hired someone new. A girl. Graduate summa cum laude from Columbia.” Tony hated the fact that Pepper referred to her as Natasha. To him, she was simply Romanov— not his enemy, but not his friend, either. 

“No way. You’re joking? How did I not know about this?” Tony sat up in bed, rubbing the bridge of his nose in disbelief. He always knew about prominent Columbia grads before that scum Barnes did.

Pepper placed her hand on Tony’s chest in an attempt to calm him down, her soft gaze meeting his brown eyes and furrowed brows.

“I don’t know. But what I do know is that you aren’t going to take this out on Romanov. You know her schedule and yours aren’t the most compatible.” A sigh from Tony.

“What’s her name?”

“What?” Pepper, who was now resting her head on Tony’s bare chest, looked up at him. 

“The girl, Pep. What’s her name?”

“Tasha said she thought it was Jade, but she also said she could be wrong.”

Jade. Tony thought about what a girl named Jade could look like. She was probably gorgeous.

“See if Romanov can do some more investigating. Once she sees Barnes in a courtroom she’ll be crying to mommy and daddy. And looking for a new job.”

“So what, you’re gonna snatch her from underneath Barnes and Rodgers? That’s a risky move, Tones. You know how they are about their fresh meat.” Tony chuckled and placed a kiss on Pepper’s forehead.

“Baby, I am capable of  _ so much  _ more than you think I am. Just you wait and see.” Pepper rolled on her side and pulled the covers to her chest. 

“Goodnight, Tony.” Pepper said softly.

“Goodnight, dear.”

**Monday, May 14th, 2018.**

When Tony woke up at 6:45 the next morning, there was a text. Natasha.

“Jada Edith Longmire, originally from DC, dad worked for HHS, summa cum laude @ Columbia. From what Wanda heard from Sam, Buck’s attached. Good luck honey, you’re gonna need it. xx. ” She’s fast, Tony thought.

The more Tony sat in bed, staring at the text from Natasha that was signed with a kiss, mind you, with his wife fast asleep at his side while the sun rose over the city that never sleeps, he thought about how he was going to get the girl.

Deep down, he knew that he probably wouldn’t, but he would never admit it to anyone, even himself. But it was damn worth the try.

Another text, Rhodey.

“You hear about the girl?”

Tony typed back.

“Yep.”

“There’s a case we could take— looks exactly like one Barnes would put a newbie on.”

Tony smiled and chuckled, causing Pepper to roll over. She softly groaned.

“Tones, what’s going on?”

“Nothing sweetheart, just go back to bed. I gotta go get ready for work anyway.” He laid a kiss on her forehead and climbed out of bed. On the way to the bathroom, he hummed to himself.

Today was going to be a good day. 


End file.
